The two of them were still stunned with wide eyes, even this amazement instantly faded their fear.
"Alright, that's enough with the shock, let's go in..." the guard said, followed by Ray and Seno, the two of them stepping into the vast military courtyard.
The courtyard alone was very vast, let alone the inside of the military building. But Ray felt something when he entered, the gazes of the Quixa City personnel looked at him and Seno with contempt and disgust.
'What the heck?! The government is really going through with that disgusting program?!'
'I didn't think they'd actually recruit those stinky Fool City folks here? They're just slaves, after all!'
'Look at those shabby and dirty clothes, they're so disgusting and probably stink!'
***
The insults and disgusted looks kept pouring in on them. Though they whispered, their voices were heard clearly—even Seno bowed his head again because of fear.
"By the way, if I may ask, who are you? You don't seem like an ordinary guard," Ray asked with a sharp gaze at the guard, they were still following him.
"Yeah... No point in hiding it... My name is Gerelotte Pane, just call me Pane, I'm the assistant of the head of military defense of Asphares," the guard replied with a tone as if he was chuckling softly.
"Now I'm taking you to meet him directly, and of course not without reason... You two have two combat-type Perks and he wants to recruit you both," he added with a more casual tone.
"Two Perks? But isn't Quixa City a city of nobility? Why does he need to recruit us?" Ray asked carefully, trying to dig up more information.
"Not everyone in Quixa City has two Perks, especially combat-type ones... You'll be very useful in fighting monsters later, and that's enough, don't ask too many questions," Pane replied with a small chuckle again.
The three of them entered the Asphares Military building—and indeed, the inside was very spacious, clean, and even the people passing by seemed to be military personnel from Quixa City.
Just like before, the Quixa City personnel immediately showed their dislike towards them after finding out they were from Fool City.
The two of them continued to follow Pane. They went up the stairs and reached the top floor, which was the fifth floor.
***
The three of them stopped at a room that looked quite large, on the door of the room was written the head of military minister.
"This is his room, I still have a lot to take care of, so you two go on in," Pane said while opening the door.
As they walked in, there was someone sitting in a large chair, apparently it was the minister—and two female guards, two male guards, and a girl facing the minister.
"Oh? You've finally arrived, please take a seat," the minister said while gesturing to two seats beside the girl.
As they walked to the chairs and sat down next to the girl, facing the minister, Ray glanced slightly at the girl.
Her clothes were tattered, dirty, and messy... Ray felt that the girl seemed to be from Fool City like them, but he was more surprised why a girl could survive from a guard's pull earlier.
"This girl... Is she from Fool City? But how did she survive the guard's pull, shouldn't she have been taken somewhere," he thought to himself.
Ray then glanced forward and looked at the minister. The minister seemed to be tidying up a document before finally looking at the three of them.
"Before we start, my name is Magnus Trasten, oh... You don't need to introduce yourselves because I already know," the minister said with a thin smile.
"Alright... So, you three are the selected people with combat Perk abilities, right?"
They all nodded—actually... they didn't even know what type of Perk they had.
"Then please sign all these documents and read the terms," the minister handed out 3 sheets of documents to each person.
The sudden statement startled the three of them a bit
They quickly took the 3 documents and a pen—Ray read the document that looked like an agreement and the terms were written.
After reading the documents, Ray started to ask questions before signing it.
"This? What does it mean to agree to become a Slayer? Do you want to enlist us into the military?" Ray said with a slightly sharp gaze.
"I'm glad you're perceptive! Exactly! Since you have special Perks, of course, we'll give you special privileges compared to other Fool City citizens. You'll be enlisted as Slayers or elite forces in Quixa City," the minister replied with a wide smile and a chuckled.
Ray furrowed his brow, then replied with a hesitant tone.
"Then what if we don't agree to these terms?"
"You peasants! How dare you speak up when you've been given a chance," one of the guards yelled and aimed his gun at Ray, making the girl and Sone jump in shock.
The minister raised his hand lightly—the guard finally lowered his gun and acted normal.
"Of course, yours can refuse, but..."
"If you refuse, you'll become slaves working in Quixa City during the Fool City repair phase, and of course, this opportunity won't come twice... So, please think carefully," the minister said with a threatening and cruel smile on his face.
They both jolted and started thinking. Ray bit his lower lip hard before finally speaking up.
"There are two things I want to ask. First, what's the purpose of recruiting us into the military?"
"Second, as you know, Quixa City citizens really like Fool City, how can we survive in that situation?"
Hearing that, the minister's face smiled softly again and he began to speak.
"I'll answer the second question first, don't worry because we've prepared for this... You three will be provided with dormitory rooms, a cafeteria to eat as much as you want, free access to training facilities, and also free access to the library, and don't worry—we'll treat you all fairly."
"As for the first... Of course, we need people like you to strengthen our military, we need someone with two combat-type Perks, and no one else but you guys to help us carry out expeditions to eradicate the Dungeon Spawner."
"Even though Quixa City is a city for nobles, humans with two Perks like you are still very rare—maybe we could add our Perks by consuming Perk Stones, but you know that Perk Stones are legendary items."
Hearing that, Ray looked down with a slightly sour face—he's made it this far, and he can't refuse the privilege offered by the minister.
He then wrote on the document and signed it, leaving Sone and the girl with no choice but to sign the agreement as well.
With a wide smile on his face, the minister finally chuckled. "Finally, you guys decided to become Slayers, huh."
***
A few moments later, the three of them were immediately escorted to their respective dormitory rooms that had been prepared.
They were quickly escorted without talking for a moment—even Ray didn't know the girl's name who was with them earlier.
Even so, there were indeed many Quixa City Slayers in this military, and Ray even became the center of attention and was looked down upon.
As before, insults like stinky, peasants, dirty, disgusting, idiot, stupid, all the words that came to mind were heard clearly—but Ray tried to ignore it.
"If I wasn't forced, I wouldn't want to be in this rat's military," he thought.
Upon arriving at the large dormitory facility building, he and the guard escorting him climbed to the second floor and stopped at one of the rooms.
"The room with code 132 is your dorm room now, here's the key and don't lose it—tomorrow is your first day entering the Ascendant room and wear the uniform given by the minister," the guard said with a sour expression as he handed Ray the room key and left.
Ray just sighed and then took the three suitcases carried by the guard earlier—and finally, he opened the door to enter.
He closed the door and looked around, unable to hide the amazement on his face because this room was so big, clean, tidy, and looked luxurious, a stark contrast to his old house in Fool City.
Ray went to the room that seemed to be the bedroom, he then put the three suitcases there and continued exploring.
He went to the kitchen and all the cooking equipment was complete, he opened the fridge and was instantly surprised because it was full of food that looked luxurious.
He took the oval-shaped meat. It was a sausage, Ray had never eaten this before and immediately took a bite.
"This... Delicious."
He then finished the sausage and stood up, closing the fridge.
Not only that, he also went to the bathroom and was even more surprised because it was really clean.
He then approached the bathtub and shower, he had never seen such things before—Ray then turned the shower handle and was surprised as water came out from there, he was really amazed.
The shower water flowed into the bathtub and felt warm. Ray then took off all his clothes and immediately lay down in the bathtub, it felt comfortable.
"This... This is like heaven," he said with relaxation, as if forgetting the previous terrifying incident.
***
Ray showered for a long time as if he was really enjoying it. He then dried himself with a towel and came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
He went to the room and opened a wardrobe. The wardrobe was full of casual clothes and other casual wear that had been provided.
Ray then took a white t-shirt and shorts and put them on, they felt very comfortable and soft—different from his clothes in Fool City that felt tattered and itchy.
He then went to the large mirror and looked at himself in the mirror's reflection—his body was fairly athletic and his face was also clean.
"Huh? What's this?" he said while picking up something on the table that seemed to be hair oil.
He looked at the instructions on the back of the hair oil container—he took a bit of the oil and rubbed it into his hair.
Ray then looked in the mirror and combed his hair casually because he didn't know how, but... He actually looked more handsome with that look.
After that, he immediately jumped onto the bed and lay there, it really felt like heaven. The bed was comfortable, clean, fragrant, and it was as if he could sleep forever in that bed.
He then wondered if he should be grateful for getting the privilege? Or should he regret having to become a combat slaves for Quixa City?
Ray closed his eyes, his consciousness began to fade as his eyes felt heavy, his body relaxed due to exhaustion.
He couldn't think anymore, his consciousness faded completely.
His breath blew steadily due to exhaustion from the horror that had occurred.
In the end...
He fell into a deep sleep.
. . .